


Tea and Sympathy

by yuletide_archivist



Category: xxxHoLic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-12-21
Updated: 2004-12-21
Packaged: 2018-01-25 06:21:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1636187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuletide_archivist/pseuds/yuletide_archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Semi-crossover with Cardcaptor Sakura.  Yuuko and Watanuki entertain their newest guest--Kinomoto Touya.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tea and Sympathy

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Underlord Backlash

 

 

Watanuki stomped down the pavement, barely paying attention to the familiar route to Yuuko's shop. He was much too busy fuming over the end of the school day, when he'd finally managed to get Himawari alone for a few minutes, only to have Doumeki show up, as usual, where he wasn't wanted. Damn it, why did that guy always have to keep appearing just when he and Himawari were able to slip off together? It was bad enough that Himawari seemed, for some unknown reason, to like him, bad enough that Yuuko was making him work with the guy, but now it felt like every time Watanuki turned around, up popped Doumeki. "Why do I always have to spend so much time with that guy?" he ranted, shaking his fists at the sky.

So busy was he seething over his enforced contact with Doumeki and replaying their earlier conversation with all the scathing remarks that he hadn't been able to think of at the time, that Watanuki never even noticed the boy standing in front of him until he ran into him.

"Oof." They collided with a thud and Watanuki flailed violently, trying to restore his balance. The other boy, obviously trying to do the same, grabbed his arm, and Watanuki, unprepared for this, fell over sideways, dragging the other boy down with him. They landed in a tangle of limbs and schoolbags on the sidewalk in front of Yuuko's shop.

Watanuki slowly crawled to his feet, adjusted his glasses, and reached down to help the other boy up, only to find him already standing and holding out Watanuki's bookbag to him. Watanuki took it with grumbled thanks. True, the accident had been mainly his fault, since he hadn't been watching where he was going, but couldn't this guy hear someone rushing behind him and move out of the way? And it'd been the other guy's fault they'd fallen-if that guy hadn't grabbed him, Watanuki could have regained his balance and then caught him before he'd fallen. And why'd this guy have to be so fast on his feet or so annoyingly tall or remind him so much of Doumeki? Especially when he'd just promised himself that he was going to stop thinking all about that guy.

Still, it wasn't like he could hold this guy responsible for a chance resemblance to someone he didn't like. "Sorry," he offered, bowing his head.

The other boy gave him a cool look, but inclined his head in acceptance of the apology. "I didn't hear anyone behind me. I was a bit...preoccupied."   
"Preoccupied? With what?"

"This place." He gestured at Yuuko's house, and Watanuki's heart sank. People drawn to Yuuko's shop were never good news. "It feels...familiar. It reminds me of someone." He turned to gaze up at the crescent moons balanced on the gateposts of Yuuko's shops.

Watanuki shot the guy a closer look, but he didn't appear to have any dark spirits hanging around him-no stench, no black smoke, nothing that seemed obviously inhuman in his aura. "Do you know Yuuko, then?"

The boy frowned. "The name is similar, but not the same." He shook his head. "No. But the feeling, the aura, is much the same." Watanuki imagined another Yuuko out there in the world, and sweatdropped heavily at the thought. The world did not need two of her. But if he didn't have anything to do with Yuuko that was good news for Watanuki-- although...he did say he could sense the aura of the place, and he _was_ drawn to the shop, which meant he couldn't be strictly normal, so it would be best for all of them if Watanuki could figure out some way to get him out of here before Yuuko could get her mitts on him.

Too late. Yuuko's voice rang out behind him. "Watanuki! I'm huuungry! Make me some oden!" He winced and tried to push the other boy out of Yuuko's line of sight. "And bring your new friend with you. He needs to speak to me." Watanuki attempted to convey by means of urgent eye rolling and eyebrow wriggling that this was not an invitation that the other boy should accept, but it appeared to be of no use, as the guy just raised one eyebrow at Watanuki's antics and then gestured for Watanuki to precede him into the shop. He gave up and slumped along inside.

\-----

The boy, Kinomoto Touya, and Yuuko sat across from each other at the small table, politely sipping tea. Yuuko wore a dress Watanuki had never seen before-- purple, short, and covered in lace and frills, the sort of thing any little girl would love. Of course, in true Yuuko fashion, its neckline plunged down practically to her waist, and one strap hung off her shoulder.

Watanuki rushed to and fro in the kitchen, trying frantically to prepare dinner while attempting to eavesdrop on their conversation. So far, all he'd been able to glean was that Touya liked red bean buns, thought Maru and Moro were cute, and disliked the Hanshin Tiger's chances at the championship. The conversation didn't seem to have any otherworldly sort of tinge to it, but Watanuki knew that Yuuko would never have invited the guy in if all she wanted to do was discuss baseball scores.

Taking a slow sip from his cup, Touya announced without preamble, "I feel like I've met you before." Watanuki froze and shifted closer to the screen where Touya and Yuuko's shadows shifted beneath the paper moon. This was going to be interesting; he knew it.

"Not in this world, I'm afraid," Yuuko said. Watanuki pricked up his ears. Possibly this might be something about those different worlds that Yuuko had mentioned earlier for their four strange customers. Or possibly she was just trying to be enigmatic for effect. One never knew with Yuuko.

"Aah," Touya said. "That would explain it. Tell me, was it a good meeting?"

"You asked me for some advice, and I gave it to you."

"Was the advice good?"

"It was expensive." She shifted on the cushions, stretching one leg out further in front of her.

Touya picked up his cup for another sip. "But worth it?"

She gave him a look (even without being able to see it, Watanuki could feel it and he shivered), and a tiny shrug, allowing the neckline of her dress to slip further down her shoulder. "You thought so. After all, it was for the life of your 'special person.'"

"Aaah," Touya sighed. "So that's why..." he trailed off, the cup of tea steaming away in his hands forgotten.

Watanuki held his breath, pressing his ear to the screen, hoping that Maru and Moro would not choose this minute to come barreling in from the storerooms. As usual, his hope was in vain, and he heard the sound of high-pitched voices behind raised in unison singsong out, "We found an eavesdropper! We found an eavesdropper!"

Watanuki fell over with a crash of crockery. Yuuko chortled merrily, while Maru and Moro danced around singing, "The eavesdropper fell down! Down, down!"

He popped back up to his feet and stomped into the main room. "I was not eavesdropping! I was just...checking on stuff. And anyway it's all _their_ ," he pointed at Maru and Moro, who looked as contrite as was possible for them to look, "fault that I dropped the bowls."

Yuuko lowered her eyes and smiled slowly. "That's okay, Watanuki, I don't mind. Of course, I will have to deduct the cost of replacing the bowls from your salary." She smirked. He winced at this reminder of yet another postponement of paying of his debt. At this rate, he'd never get his wish granted. Behind him, Maru and Moro giggled, thrusting at him the broom and dustpan they'd been holding.

Touya rose to his feet. "Thank you very much for the tea," he said, bowing low to Yuuko and briefly acknowledging Watanuki.

Yuuko stretched back on her pillows, her eyes almost closed, looking for all the world as if she were about to take a nap. "Please escort your friend out, Watanuki," she said.

He bit back an irritated rant. The guy was not his friend: they'd just met and it had been Yuuko who had spent all afternoon talking to Touya, not him! He settled for growling under his breath and putting an extra stomp in his step as he led Touya out the door and down the path to the gate. He paused before they reached it and glanced up at the spreading cherry tree, along the left side of the path, then blinked and looked again. Sure enough, he'd been right the first time. There was a beautiful curly-haired woman in a long dress sitting on one of the lower branches. He blinked. "There's a woman sitting in that tree!" he blurted out.

Touya looked up. "Oh," he said offhandedly, "that's probably just my mother."

"Does your mother often sit in trees?" Watanuki asked.

"Sometimes," Touya said. "She's dead, you see."

Watanuki looked back at the woman. She smiled and waved at him. He processed the implications of Touya's remark. "So...so you can see spirits too?" he asked. Did that mean that he was going to have to work with this guy too? Or that Yuuko would send Doumeki out with Touya now sometimes for exorcisms? Watanuki felt a tiny wriggle of unease in his stomach at the thought. He quickly shook his head as if to dislodge the thought. There was no way that Yuuko would pass up any opportunity to embarrass him, harass him, or otherwise make his life harder, which meant that he would be stuck working with Doumeki for conceivable future, at least until he'd paid for his wish.

"Not anymore," Touya replied, hefting his bag strap higher on his shoulder. "But it was worth losing."

"You-you gave it up? How?"

Touya raised an eyebrow. "Wouldn't the more apposite question usually be considered to be _why_?"

Watanuki flushed. "Ah, I'm sorry. It's just that I...I want to get rid of it. Seeing ghosts. That's why I wanted to know how you did it."

Touya shrugged. "Don't ask me. About a year ago I suddenly fell ill, and when I recovered, I could no longer see spirits or sense auras. This feeling I had today about this house was the first time since then that I've sensed anything of that nature."

"So...it just disappeared on its own?"

"No. From what Yuuko told me, as well as my own observations, it originated in another world from this one. It appears to have spread throughout them all, however. I'm afraid, though, that I have no idea how exactly it happened."

"Oh." Watanuki fell silent. So, if he were rid of this power, then all the versions of him in all the various worlds would also lose the ability? He felt a bit uneasy about affecting so many different people, even if they were all him. Of course, there was no knowing if the method by which Yuuko would grant his wish would be the same as that other Touya's. Besides, he consoled himself; surely it would be hard for him to conceive of a world in which he would _want_ to be able to attract these spirits.

Touya quirked an eyebrow. "Good luck with your problem," he offered, "but I can't help you."

"Yeah, well, thanks." Watanuki sighed. They walked on a little further down. He stopped under the tree and hesitated. "Do you...ever miss not being able to see the spirits?"

Touya looked up into the branches of the tree where, Watanuki knew, he must be searching for the presence of his mother's ghost. "Sometimes. But now that I know why...I'm glad that other me did it. It was worth it." Some strange emotion flickered across his face, and then his expression smoothed out again. "You'll have to excuse me," he said. "I'm running late, and Yukito's waiting for me."

"A friend?" Watanuki asked.

Touya's eyes darkened and the corners of his mouth turned up in a small smile. "A very _special_ one."

Oh, a _special_ friend. Watanuki could imagine the depths of sarcasm behind that smirking smile, even if none of it was apparent in the cool tone of his voice. Someone like Doumeki: a real irritant; hardly the sort of person he'd normally call 'friend'. "Yeah," he said, "I have a _friend_ like that."

Touya smiled that same little quirk of his lips again. "Ah? Well, you know how it is then. I'm sure he's wondering where I am. Maybe I'll see you again one day?"

"Maybe." Watanuki smiled and waved goodbye. Touya gave a short nod and hurried down the street, while Watanuki turned back to head inside the shop. He sighed, thinking about their conversation. Funny, he thought (completely ignoring his first impressions) that he should happen to meet someone so similar to himself-- even down to annoying friends that were always hanging around. And there he was, thinking about Doumeki again. Even in the privacy of his own thoughts, he couldn't get away from the guy. Oh well, the thought that one day he might be free of his powers-- and of everyone associated with them-- was cheering enough that he was willing to overlook his brain's tendency to harp on that guy.

He'd just have to make sure that Doumeki and this Yukito guy never met. Because if they ever compared notes, he was sure his life would end up in an even bigger mess than it was already.

 

 

 


End file.
